KAREN THURMAN

“I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in order” - John Burroughs

Despite (or maybe because of) spending my formative years in the grey concrete jungles of the Far East, I fell profoundly in love with Mother Nature and now use photography to encourage people towards reverence for her. Inveterate nomad and landscape photographer, I am most likely to be found in one of two places: camping in our tent or in my beloved darkroom developing and printing images of the forests and woodlands that are so magical to me.

I started photographing in my teens, a pastime I shared with my Dad. Now a professional photographer, I work in large format black & white, using the lack of colour to highlight nature’s abundant, glorious textures, tones and shapes. Largely self-taught, I have also studied with celebrated master printers including John Blakemore and Bruce Barnbaum and am working on a multi-year project, On Your Doorstep, documenting the immense natural beauty to be found in commuter belts and other non-iconic locations in the UK. I have an MSc in Environmental Decision Making; my thesis was on sustainable forestry certifications.